Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Storek (US 2021/0272858) in view of Shimuzu (US 2025/0191943).
With respect to claims 1 and 13, Storek teaches a heat treatment apparatus for a semiconductor workpiece (110), comprising:
one or more heating elements (130 and 140) configured to heat the semiconductor workpiece;
an upper cover plate and a lower cover plate (106 and 108);
a reaction chamber (105) defined by the upper cover plate, the lower cover plate and a reaction chamber body (formed with 180) ;
a workpiece support element (120) configured to support the semiconductor workpiece;
at least one infrared emitter (154) located at a first end (above it see Fig 1) of the upper cover plate; and
at least one infrared reflection sensor (166) located at a second end (below it) of the upper cover plate, and at least one infrared transmission sensor (168/167) located at a second end (below the cover plate) of the lower cover plate, the second ends are opposite (upper opposite of lower) to the first end,
wherein the at least one infrared emitter (154) and the at least one infrared reflection sensor are located at a side (see placement sides shown in Fig. 1) of the upper cover plate facing (see shown facing in see Fig. 1) to the reaction chamber respectively, and the at least one infrared transmission sensor is located at a side (see side shown in Fig. 1) of the lower cover plate facing to the reaction chamber (see facing into the chamber shown in Fig. 1).
Storek does not teach the placement of the emitter and sensor on a sidewall. Shimizu teaches wherein the known placement an emitter (140) and sensor (150) located on sidewalls (Fig. 10). The Examiner is taking Official Notice that it is well known in the art that increasing space between a heating element and an infrared detector reduces interference from the heating element. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify Storek to place the elements on the sidewall for the benefit of reducing interference with the heating elements.
With respect to claim 2, Storek teaches (paragraph 0066) the at least one infrared emitter emits infrared radiation having one or two wavelengths of 2.3 microns and 2.7 microns.
With respect to claims 3-4, Storek teaches the at least one infrared emitter (154), the at least one infrared reflection sensor (166) and the at least one infrared transmission sensor (168); however, does not teach the elements have the same quantity. Shimizu teaches the known use of a same quantity of emitters and receives. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify Storek to use the same quantity since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or working ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
With respect to claims 5-6, Storek teaches the infrared emitter is located at a same straight line as a corresponding infrared transmission sensor (see 154 straight line with 168).
With respect to claim 7-8, Storek teaches wherein the upper cover plate and the lower cover plate are high hydroxyl quartz cover plates, respectively (paragraph 0074).
With respect to claims 9-10, Storek teaches an angle between the infrared emitter and a longitudinal axis of the reaction chamber body, an angle between the infrared reflection sensor and the longitudinal axis of the reaction chamber body and an angle between the infrared transmission sensor and the longitudinal axis of the reaction chamber body are same, preferably between 30° to 60°, and most preferably 45° (paragraph 0034).
With respect to claims 11-12 and 14, Storek teaches the treatment apparatus is capable of accurately measure temperature of the semiconductor workpiece within a range of 400-750 °C (paragraph 0068).
Conclusion
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/CAROLYN FIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2884
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